Bend Man On Trial For Killing With Baseball Bat

Prosecutors in a trial getting under way in Bend say a man beat his roommate to death with a baseball bat because of jealousy over a woman. Richard Ward Clarke is accused of murder in the death of 36-year-old Matt Fitzhenry in October 2010.

The Bulletin newspaper reports that Fitzhenry died of multiple blows to the head. In opening statements, prosecutor Van McIver quoted Clarke as telling another inmate he'd delivered nine to 13 blows when Fitzhenry was already down.

McIver says the 26-year-old Clarke was obsessed with his former girlfriend and convinced that Fitzhenry of being involved with her. Clarke's lawyer, Jacques DeKalb, told jurors that his client was there when Fitzhenry was beaten, but he didn't commit the murder or anticipate that it would happen.